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Monday, November 19, 2012

Of Petraeus the betrayer and DesJarlais the anti-choice abortion counselor.

By Marc Jampole

The news media is still wringing its hands in torment over
the loss of their military darling, General David Petraeus, to the vagaries of
carnal affection.While some have
wondered why an affair should force a resignation since it’s a private matter,
most editors, writers and pundits have bereaved the inevitability of
resignation.

The thought process that leads to automatic resignation starts
with the idea that a CIA Director could be blackmailed into acting in the worst
interest of the country to avoid being found out.Few seem to remember that Petraeus is an old
hand at doing what’s not right for the country. He was, after all, architect of
the “surge strategy” in the Iraq War that postponed the inevitable withdrawal
of U.S. troops from the morass of anarchy created by the U.S. invasion. The
surge did give the U.S. a flimsy justification for claiming success, so in a
sense, Petraeus constructed one of the most costly fig leaves in recorded
history, the cost unfortunately computed in both human lives and wasted money.

Petraeus probably “cooked the books” in reporting progress
during the Iraq War surge, as reported by MoveOn, most notoriously in a 2007 full-page
ad in the New York Times. The same
mainstream media that are now surgically investigating the Petraeus affair
raised a collective voice back then to defend Petraeus and condemn MoveOn for
its clever headline, Petraeus betray us.”Funny, isn’t it:The mainstream
media pretty much accepted the Bush II Administrations lies about weapons of
mass destruction, Iraqi support of Al Qaida, torture as a mere aberration in
the lower ranks and the success of the surge. Yet they are digging deep to
uncover every tawdry nugget of the Petraeus scandal.

In other words, the mass media that botched the investigation
of an important public issue show a great deal of competence and
professionalism going after all the details of an extramarital affair.

My own view is that Petraeus should never have been given
the job of CIA Director. Once confirmed, however, engaging in extramarital
sexual congress should not have warranted dismissal. Now if Petraeus was in
some way going to benefit from any deals that ”family friend” Jill Kelley was trying to broker for exorbitant sums, then he should not have been given
the face-saving option to resign, but instead been summarily dismissed.(Petraeus’ paramour instigated the
investigation that “caught” Petraeus when she suspected that the general
was servicing Kelley and so sent her, imagined or real, rival some threatening
emails, which the well-connected Kelly turned over to an FBI friend).

Certainly DesJarlais behaved unethically to sleep with a
patient, although they were both consenting adults. But as far as the abortions
go, who cares? Abortion was legal then and is legal now.

Except that DesJarlais says he’s pro-life.It’s the hypocrisy of wanting to prevent
other people from doing what you yourself have recommended multiple times that
makes DesJarlais’ private matters fair game for the media.

If it weren’t for the entertainment value, I’d be pleased that Texas Governor Rick Perry is foundering in the Republican presidential race. After all, Governor Perry, who is in an unprecedented fourth term as chief executive of the nation's second-largest state, still might get the Republican nomination for president. If that happens there’s no telling what the voters might be fooled into doing. Just look at how far George W. Bush got.